New Gps - Lots Of Qs!

[+Bambi&Thumper]

OK, I know this sort of stuff comes up often, but we've had a go with the search function on this forum and played with Google for a few hours and all our questions are still not answered. Could we have a little help please?

 

We are (sort of, after a weekend looking in the wrong place) looking at getting a new GPS and it seems that the dog's danglies is the Garmin GPSMap 60SCx. I think (corect me if I'm wrong please) that C is colour, S is sensors (compass and altimeter) and x is the new SiRF III chip and micro SD card - is that right or is there more to it?

 

After fighting to find the difference between C and CS, we didn't have the energy to find out the difference between the 60 series and the 76 series - so, apart from appearance, how does performance etc compare? Does anyone have experience of both?

 

Also, GPSOnline, Aspid, Global Positioning Systems and FingerTech seem to be highly recommended to buy stuff from - Have we missed any - Particularly anything gives a good price (making it easier to justify replacement)!

 

Finally, we have MapSource MetroGuide Europe, so is there milage in getting a US model with a large SD card, or are the basemaps that come with the CSx superior (I think I read something about that somewhere)? Or should we bite the bullet and go for Topo maps too? Oh yeah, and I read somewhere that Topo is transparent and just sits on top of the basemap - does this include the MetroGuide map or do they really mean basemap or have I got it totally wrong?

 

Thanks loads,

 

Bambi.

 

PS Our current model is an eTrex Legend (B&W) and the size of the memory is a bit of a pain, as are the lack of averaging when setting caches and the increasingly poor reception as trees get leafier, which is why we are working at replacing after a bank holiday spent chasing shadows... Yes, before anyone says, I know "where the coordinates are" depends on the setter as well as the finder, but this w/e it was definitely all our fault since we tried again and again and got completely different locations each time. After several lots of an hour+ hunting in woodland in a valley recently... You get the picture

[+dino-irl]

60CSx

 

76CSx

 

From a brief look it appears that the 60 series is more for general outdoor use and the 76 series is aimed particularly at a marine use.....it floats

[+Geo-Kate]

You are right with the 'C' 'S' and 'X' terms, from what i've heard, the new chips used in the 'X' series are great, far superior to older ones! Also, the processor is faster, rendering maps about 30% or more faster. This lets you scroll across on maps and it beinf rendered in real time. No pusing and waiting for the map to draw. Before I get shouted at, this is from a review I read of the CSX and not from my experience!

 

The difference between the 60 and the 60C is more than a colour screen. The C also has larger memory for map storage.

 

The contour lines from SMC are completely transparrent, allowing you to see the base map or detailed maps 'underneath'. Very good, considering it is free. Follow the instruction on loading the maps carefully!

 

The Topo maps are good, I use them with my map60C. I find the maps very slow to load and keep up with movements. Garmin are apparently unnaware of this problem. The detail on lakes, rivers and such is very good. The paths are OK, but some or incomplete or missing. Frustrating when a path you want is not shown and you end up refering to an OS map. Kinda defeats the object.

 

Good luck with your choice

[+Kryten]

I recently upgrdaded from Etrex to 60CSx and the performance is far superior under heavy foliage. Waypoint averaging also very useful when hiding. I fitted 1G micro SD card which works fine although it's much quicker to program it in an external holder, loading maps in situ is way too slow.

[oddsock]

OK, I know this sort of stuff comes up often, but we've had a go with the search function on this forum and played with Google for a few hours and all our questions are still not answered. Could we have a little help please?

 

 

Finally, we have MapSource MetroGuide Europe, so is there milage in getting a US model with a large SD card, or are the basemaps that come with the CSx superior (I think I read something about that somewhere)? Or should we bite the bullet and go for Topo maps too? Oh yeah, and I read somewhere that Topo is transparent and just sits on top of the basemap - does this include the MetroGuide map or do they really mean basemap or have I got it totally wrong?

 

Thanks loads,

 

Bambi.

 

 

The base maps are rubbish anyway so go for the cheaper US version.and use your MG which you can use to Autoroute with by using Img2Gps instead of Mapsource to send the map tiles to the unit.

 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mdipol/img2gps/

Dave

Edited June 1, 2006 by oddsock

[+Bambi&Thumper]

That's really great - Thanks everyone for your help.

 

For the record (and anyone else who is thinking of making the upgrade) looks like the way to go is to get a GPSMap 60CSx from the USA, get a 1GB SD card and use our mapsource CDs with SMC topo maps (which look really good) on top, using IMG2GPS to make it autoroute.

 

Sounds like we are in for some fun

 

Thanks again to everyone for your help,

 

Bambi.

[oddsock]

That's really great - Thanks everyone for your help.

 

For the record (and anyone else who is thinking of making the upgrade) looks like the way to go is to get a GPSMap 60CSx from the USA, get a 1GB SD card and use our mapsource CDs with SMC topo maps (which look really good) on top, using IMG2GPS to make it autoroute.

 

Sounds like we are in for some fun

 

Thanks again to everyone for your help,

 

Bambi.

 

Before you splash out on a 1Gb card read This

 

Dave

[+The Bolas Heathens]

We did the same and have virtually all of UK Garmin Topo 2 loaded on the 1Gb card. Works flawlessly and is an absolute bonus when out caching.

 

It's lead us straight to caches others have said are really tricky due to tree cover and never had a problem yet. It's even worked quite far into a walk-in cave on a cache near to home. Best caching money we ever spent

 

I recently upgrdaded from Etrex to 60CSx and the performance is far superior under heavy foliage. Waypoint averaging also very useful when hiding. I fitted 1G micro SD card which works fine although it's much quicker to program it in an external holder, loading maps in situ is way too slow.

[+Pharisee]

Do you really need a card that size? I've got a 256Mb card in my 60CSx and onto that I've downloaded (from City Select, with auto-routing data) the whole of the UK and Ireland, the whole of Austria and a fair chunk of southern Germany for my holiday later this year. I don't anticipate loading any other maps in the forseeable future.

[+Bambi&Thumper]

Do you really need a card that size?

 

Well, to be honest, I don't really know, but in my (limited) experience it's always best to go over the top slightly as if/when you really use something you always end up using more than you thought in the first place. When we bought our Legend, the memory seemed vast and we couldn't imagine using any of it, but we soon filled it once we got the mapping software and we don't want to upgrade again for a few years really.

 

The other reason why I thought about getting a large card was because I was thinking of getting a US model with the US basemap. In reality, we'd probably never use it, but since we have Metroguide Europe it seemed silly to buy EU basmaps only to stick stuff on top, especially since GPSs seem cheeper in the US (also, the SMC topo maps look really good and I really fancy using them and I guess they take up lots of space).

 

So that's my next question - Does anyone have experience of importing these things from the USA? What happens about import taxes and stuff? I have a friend who might be prepared to carry one back, but it wouldn't be until the end of the Summer, so I'm looking for alternatives...

 

Thanks again,

 

Bambi.

[oddsock]

Do you really need a card that size? I've got a 256Mb card in my 60CSx and onto that I've downloaded (from City Select, with auto-routing data) the whole of the UK and Ireland, the whole of Austria and a fair chunk of southern Germany for my holiday later this year. I don't anticipate loading any other maps in the forseeable future.

 

The problem is if you upgrade your maps to say CN v8...Garmin in their infinite wisdom have produced this release with very large map tiles rendering units with small memory vitually consigned to the scrap heap...(method in their madness eh!) as less than 20 tiles cover the whole of the UK where as with MG Europe there are just shy of 300.

 

Dave

[+Pharisee]

The problem is if you upgrade your maps to say CN v8...Garmin in their infinite wisdom have produced this release with very large map tiles rendering units with small memory vitually consigned to the scrap heap...(method in their madness eh!) as less than 20 tiles cover the whole of the UK where as with MG Europe there are just shy of 300.

 

Dave

 

But if you can load the whole of the UK onto 256Mb and have a goodly chunk to spare, does it matter if it comes as 20 map tiles or 300? You're only going to load it all once

 

Unless, of course, the total memory needed has increased considerably from City Select to City Navigator. I wouldn't know the answer to that but I bet someone will pop up and tell me I believe that you need almost 1Gb to load the whole of the UK from the Topo maps.

[oddsock]

The problem is if you upgrade your maps to say CN v8...Garmin in their infinite wisdom have produced this release with very large map tiles rendering units with small memory vitually consigned to the scrap heap...(method in their madness eh!) as less than 20 tiles cover the whole of the UK where as with MG Europe there are just shy of 300.

 

Dave

 

But if you can load the whole of the UK onto 256Mb and have a goodly chunk to spare, does it matter if it comes as 20 map tiles or 300? You're only going to load it all once

 

Unless, of course, the total memory needed has increased considerably from City Select to City Navigator. I wouldn't know the answer to that but I bet someone will pop up and tell me I believe that you need almost 1Gb to load the whole of the UK from the Topo maps.

 

172mb CNv8..115mb MG v7 so if you want to combine it with a trip to europe is doesn't leave a lot.The problem is if you plot a route accross with small map tiles you can get quite a tight corridor each side of the road where with large tiles you have a greater one which cranks up the memory requirements.

Dave

[+Pharisee]

172mb CNv8..115mb MG v7 so if you want to combine it with a trip to europe is doesn't leave a lot.The problem is if you plot a route accross with small map tiles you can get quite a tight corridor each side of the road where with large tiles you have a greater one which cranks up the memory requirements.

Dave

 

Yes... I see your point You could always use a second card. Keep one with the UK on for 'everyday' use and a second card for use elsewhere. It only takes a few seconds to change them.

[oddsock]

172mb CNv8..115mb MG v7 so if you want to combine it with a trip to europe is doesn't leave a lot.The problem is if you plot a route accross with small map tiles you can get quite a tight corridor each side of the road where with large tiles you have a greater one which cranks up the memory requirements.

Dave

 

Yes... I see your point You could always use a second card. Keep one with the UK on for 'everyday' use and a second card for use elsewhere. It only takes a few seconds to change them.

Yes! I do agree with the second card..(barring loosing the little devils.. )..as recalculations are faster with smaller cards..

Dave

[+Kryten]

Do you really need a card that size?

I found that 1G holds the topo map for just over half of the UK.

[+Bambi&Thumper]

I found that 1G holds the topo map for just over half of the UK.

 

I assume that's Garmin Topo - so does anyone know how much space full coverage using SMC topo maps would be approx? I mean are they more or less intensive than Topo?

 

Bambi.

[oddsock]

I found that 1G holds the topo map for just over half of the UK.

 

I assume that's Garmin Topo - so does anyone know how much space full coverage using SMC topo maps would be approx? I mean are they more or less intensive than Topo?

 

Bambi.

 

75mb

 

edit : but they are just contour lines and trig points

 

Dave

Edited June 2, 2006 by oddsock

[+Bambi&Thumper]

75mb

 

edit : but they are just contour lines and trig points

 

Dave

 

Thanks!

 

Contours and trig points are fine, since they are free and augment Metroguide which we already have.

 

So what about importing from the US? Anybody tried it?

 

Bambi.

[oddsock]

Another site warning of fast 1GB storage cards : http://gpsinformation.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=762

 

Dave